All four studio albums produced during this period reached #1 on the Billboard pop music charts and 17 singles breached the top 12 of the mainstream rock tracks chart. In addition, Van Halen was nominated for two Grammy Awards, winning the 1991 Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal award for the album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Van Halen continued to enjoy tremendous success throughout the mid-90's. In 1995 Van Halen surprised many fans by supporting Bon Jovi on their European Summer stadium tour.
The Van Halen logo used to signify change when Sammy Hagar joined the band
The band's commercial success and new "Van Hagar" sound did little to woo many fans who still held a strong resentment over Roth's departure and refused to move on. However Eddie repeatedly said Van Halen was happier with Hagar singing and that "Roth was not coming back".
The band was also working on a compilation album, which Hagar was not keen on since Van Halen felt it was not what fans wanted, nor was it something Van Halen needed to release, since they presumably had a long career ahead of them. This led to conflicts with Hagar and the group's new manager, Ray Danniels (Ed Leffler's replacement and Alex Van Halen Van Halen's brother in law) who suggested the idea. Reluctant to work on compilation album songs before a new album came out, Van Halen fell out, leaving the management siding with Eddie and Alex. Hagar was also rumoured to have concerns over comparisons on an album which featured both Van Halen's work and Roth's.
The album was followed by a poorly attended, but well received, and widespread tour. The III Tour saw Van Halen playing in new countries, including first ever visits to Australia and New Zealand.
Michael Anthony - bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1974-2002, 2003-2005)
On release, Van Halen reached #12 on the Billboard pop music charts, one of rock's most commercially successful debuts. It is a highly regarded hard rock album. The album included songs now regarded as Van Halen classics, like "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" and the guitar solo "Eruption", which showcased Eddie's use of a playing technique known as 'finger-tapping'. The band toured for nearly a year, opening for Black Sabbath and establishing a reputation for their performances. The band's chemistry came out of a contrast between Eddie Van Halen Van Halen's technical guitar wizardry and David Lee Roth's flamboyant antics, which later turned them into rivals. They returned to the studio in 1979 for Van Halen II, similar in style to their debut. This album yielded Van Halen's first hit single, "Dance The Night Away."
Gary Cherone era (1996-1999)
photo by Brian Lynch
Current members
The band's appearance on the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards fueled reunion speculation. Several weeks after the awards show, it was discovered Roth was out of Van Halen again. Roth released a statement in which Van Halen apologized to the media and the fans, stating that Van Halen was an unwitting participant in a Van Halen publicity stunt by them and manager Ray Danniels. The next day, Eddie and Alex released their own statement, claiming they were completely honest with Roth and never suggested Van Halen was guaranteed to be the next lead singer.
Sammy Hagar - lead vocals, guitar (1985-1996, 2003-2005)
Former members
During Hagar's tenure, Van Halen established a musical formula that proved commercially successful in the United States. Hagar's style enabled Van Halen to become accessible to a wider audience, with lyrics that were more conventional and refined. Eddie's keyboard work brought a wider variety of sonic textures within each song, and the production was altered toward the pop side, and the songs became longer: During the Roth era, Van Halen songs rarely stretched beyond three and a half minutes, and some albums struggled to cross the thirty minute mark. With Hagar, some songs exceeded five minutes in length. The result was markedly different from the hard charging, rollicking riffs of the group's earlier work. The mix of pop and hard rock styles created a new sound for Van Halen .
Van Halen during their 2004 reunion period, left to right: Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, Eddie Van Halen
Reports from the first half of the tour were largely positive. Later, however, stories of Eddie being drunk and playing poorly also circulated. At the end of Van Halen's final show of the tour, in Tucson, Eddie smashed one of Van Halen's guitars during the show and quickly walked off stage.
In 1977, Mo Ostin and Ted Templeman of Warner Bros. Records saw Van Halen perform at the Starwood in Hollywood. Although the audience was small, the two were so impressed with Van Halen that within a week they offered them a recording contract. In October of that year, Van Halen recorded their eponymous first album at Sunset Sound Recorders studio. All of the tracks were laid down in about three weeks, with little over-dubbing or double tracking. Minor mistakes were purposely left on the record and a simple musical set-up was used to give the record a live feel. Despite its simple components, Van Halen proved innovative in musical technique, production, and arrangement.
In September, Van Halen were asked to present an award at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards. They agreed, and on September 4, 1996, the four original members of Van Halen made their first public appearance together in over eleven years. This helped to bring the compilation to #1 on the US album charts. However, unknown to Roth, Eddie and Alex were still auditioning other singers. Following Van Halen's MTV appearance, Malloy decided Van Halen could not be successful with a new vocalist since people would now want Roth. He called Anthony, and quit. Millions of people viewed the show, and Roth claimed to be back in the band.
Band members
On March 5, 2008 World Entertainment Weekly to CBS News reported the reason behind the stoppage in the tour was due to Eddie Van Halen needing to reenter rehab. The report also indicated that it was a "furious backstage bust-up in Florida with Van Halen's 17-year-old son and bandmate Wolfgang" which motivated Eddie to seek help once again.
Following the release of the 5150 album, a tour was launched to support it across North America. Named the 1986 Tour, the title was a homage to the previous 1984 Tour in support of the 1984 album. The band proved touring with Hagar was as successful as with Roth, and footage was released on VHS/DVD as Live Without a Net. In the tour Hagar wanted to minimize the use of pre-Hagar Van Halen songs in the set, other than Van Halen's best known classics. This was a trend that continued, with the expanding repertoire of Hagar-era songs slowly whittling away at the number of Roth-era songs on the set list.
Shortly afterwards, Van Halen returned to the studio. In early 1999, they started work on a new album, rumoured to be called Love Again. Working titles of songs included "Left for Dead," "River Wide," "Say Uncle," "You Wear it Well," "More Than Yesterday," "I Don't Miss You...Much," "Love Divine," and "From Here, Where Do We Go?".
Gary Cherone - lead vocals (1996-1999)
In response to rumors about Eddie Van Halen being back in rehab Valerie Bertinelli stated that "he is not in rehab". She did not however state if Van Halen had recently been in rehab, stating only that Van Halen wasn't currently.
Wolfgang Van Halen - bass guitar, backing vocals (2006-present)
The band became a staple on Hollywood's Sunset Strip during the mid-1970s, consistently playing at well known clubs like the Whisky a Go Go. In 1977 Gene Simmons, from Kiss, saw Van Halen and financed their first demo tape, flying Van Halen to the Electric Lady Studios, New York City to record "House of Pain" and "Runnin' With the Devil". Eddie disliked the demo, because Van Halen was not using Van Halen's own equipment and had to overdub guitar parts. Simmons wanted to change Van Halen's name to "Daddy Longlegs" and had designed cover art (a daddy longlegs wearing a top hat), but Van Halen stuck with Van Halen . Simmons then opted out of further involvement.
David Lee Roth - lead vocals (1974-1985, 1996, 2006-present)
Reunion with Roth (2006 - present)
Eddie's only live performances during this period were joining Mountain to play "Never in My Life" in August 2002 and a private audience jam at NAMM January 2003. This took place at the Peavey booth (Peavey produced Eddie's signature "Wolfgang" model guitar). Word quickly spread through the NAMM show that Eddie was to play at the Peavey booth, and it filled up. Eddie showed up late, drunk. When Van Halen finally appeared, Van Halen was incoherent. Shortly after this, Peavey lost its license to produce the "official" Van Halen guitar, and Fender, which had purchased Charvel-Jackson, was awarded the license, but the guitar produced was a copy of Eddie's earlier Strat-style guitars.
The Van Halen brothers first started playing music together when Alex took up the guitar and Eddie the drums. However, after some time with this set up, the two switched places." In 1972 the Van Halen brothers formed a band called "Mammoth" which featured Eddie as lead vocalist/guitarist, Alex Van Halen on drums and Mark Stone on bass. They initially rented a sound system from David Lee Roth but decided to save money by letting him join as lead vocalist even though Van Halen had previously auditioned unsuccessfully for this. By 1974 Van Halen decided to replace Stone. Michael Anthony, bassist and lead vocalist from local band "Snake" was auditioned. Following an all night jam session Van Halen was hired for bass and backing vocals.
Over the next few years, Van Halen alternated album releases and touring to increasing commercial and critical acclaim and became one of the world's most successful and influential bands. Their party-loving spirit and hard rocking anthem-like sound made them popular with teenagers. Women and Children First was released in 1980 and further cemented Van Halen Van Halen's status. But in 1981, during the recording of the Fair Warning album, tensions rose. Eddie's desire for more serious and complex songs was at odds with Roth's poppy style. Although Roth (and producer Templeman) acquiesced to Eddie's wishes, Fair Warning was a sales disappointment, with no hits. In later interviews Eddie would reveal that Van Halen was struggling with alcoholism during the production of Fair Warning and this resulted in the album's darker tone.
Van Halen tickets However, the album was also a breaking point. In the midst of the tour, the artistic and personal tensions among the musicians reached a fever pitch. Reasons for the breakup vary based on Van Halen member interviewed, but were rooted in control of Van Halen's sound and image. Roth was upset about Eddie playing music outside of Van Halen without checking with Van Halen and Eddie was sick of Roth's flamboyant behavior and stage persona. On April 1, 1985, Roth left Van Halen .
